Chapter 982: Nothingness
Just like that, the expedition made its way up the spiral staircase to the third floor of the Well of the Sun, each individual having thoughts of their own. The third floor was not gilded like the first few floors. Instead, it was completely pitch dark, as if the end of the stairs led to the endless void. However, in the endless void, there was at least still some light of the erupting Nether Storm, and there was not a single trace of light here.
There was a clear dividing line at the end of the staircase, separating the dark side from the side with golden light. There seemed to be an invisible force that prevented the golden light on this side from illuminating the other side. On the other hand, the darkness of the dark side would not be able to affect the light side at all. The two were like two separate worlds.
“Respected Master, we’re now in the territory of the Lord of Nothingness, Darc. That fellow has the ability to turn everything into nothingness, even I can’t devour anything from him,” Garl explained, telling Lin Li everything that he knew about the situation using his mental strength when the expedition was about to enter the darkness.
In fact, even if Garl did not say anything, Lin Li would still know because he was very clear about the world of darkness in front of him. Based on his experience in the Well of the Sun in the Endless World, Lin Li knew that the Lord of Nothingness was also an existence that was close to the Sanctuary-realm, and his ability to transform everything into nothingness would be a tricky problem even for Sanctuary powerhouses.
Be it magic, natural light, air, or physical objects, they would all be instantly transformed into nothingness by the power of the Lord of Nothingness. It was almost the same as the Void of the Stars technique that Sanctuary masters would cast. However, the difference was that the Lord of Nothingness was not subjected to a time limit, unlike Sanctuary Masters who would return to the real world after the casting was over.
Back then, Lin Li had racked his brains, wondering how to pass through this place, and he even had to pay a huge price. In order to acquire the debris of the stars and the Stars of Fury, Lin Li spent most of his possessions on the quest to explore the Well of the Sun, which included Guru-level potions and superior-grade equipment. The quantity that he lost was almost enough for arming a whole guild in the game. However, Lin Li lost more than half of the items he brought with him to the Lord of Nothingness.
However, in the face of the Lord of Nothingness that would give a Sanctuary powerhouse a headache too, Lin Li was definitely not as helpless as he had been, because he now had the real debris of the stars, Nothingness, which was the only thing that contained the power to kill the Lord of Nothingness.
“Master Felic?” Looking at a world of nothingness at the end of the staircase, Archbishop Martin and the others couldn’t help but feel a little daunted. They went up to Lin Li in a bid to ask him, the leader, for his opinion.
Suffering losses was definitely inevitable when exploring ruins, but who wouldn’t want to reduce the losses they suffered? So far, the team from the Brilliance Shrine had already lost almost a fifth of its members, while the team from the Rotterdam Kingdom lost dozens of Alchemy Colossuses and metallurgists.
Although they could not feel a single tinge of mana fluctuations in the world of nothingness in front of them, Archbishop Martin and the others were even more worried. Although no one knew what kind of dangers were hidden in the nothingness, the unknown was often even more frightening because no one would know what their death would be like and how to prevent it.
Although Lin Li intended for the people from the Brilliance Shrine and the Rotterdam Kingdom to become cannon fodder, they would have to be worthy enough. This time, Lin Li, who was well aware of how pervertedly powerful the Lord of Nothingness was, was almost certain that once the entire expedition entered, no one except the few Legendary powerhouses would be able to last a single second at all.
Hence, this time, Lin Li did not intend to waste any cannon fodder, as there would be plenty of places for him to use it in the future. Thus, he said, “According to what you said, this place belongs to the Lord of Nothingness. It’s not suitable for too many of us to enter. Rest and recuperate here while I get rid of it. I’ll then inform you guys when to enter.”
While speaking, he took out the debris of the stars, Nothingness, which was in the shape of a spear, from the Ring of Endless Storm.
Hearing that Lin Li intended to enter the world of Nothingness, Archbishop Martin couldn’t help but show how worried he was. He said, “Master Felic, why don’t you bring a few more people or let me accompany you?”
After all, to Archbishop Martin, Lin Li still had the identity of the Son of The Holy Light, and if anything were to happen here, it would be a great loss to the Brilliance Shrine. Besides, everyone in the expedition was still pinning their hopes of leaving on Lin Li. If Lin Li encountered a mishap inside, what would happen to the expedition? Would they be able to leave this world?
Donald, who was next to him, quickly sincerely interjected, “Yeah, Master Felic, we might not be of much help to you this time, but we can help you fight. Why don’t you let us go with you?”
Compared to Archbishop Martin, Donald was far less genuine about it. He only said those words because he knew that Lin Li wouldn’t let anyone tag along. Of course, in Donald’s opinion, Archbishop Martin definitely had the same intentions as him. After all, Lin Li was a true Sanctuary powerhouse who was much stronger compared to them who were only at the peak of the Legendary-level. Since Lin Li said that he didn’t need any company, he definitely wouldn’t want anyone to tag along, no matter the reason. If he could not even deal with the situation as a Sanctuary powerhouse, it would be useless to bring any more people over.
Lin Li was naturally clear about Donald’s thoughts. If it were before, he might really embarrass Donald and put him on the spot. However, Donald was now nothing more than an insignificant ant to Lin Li. Since they did not have any ties with each other, either, Lin Li did not have the time to bicker with him.
He waved his hand to reject Archbishop Martin’s and Donald’s “good intentions”, and instead strode towards the end of the staircase with the debris of the stars, Nothingness. Of course, when Lin Li crossed the obvious line of division on the stairs, the debris of the stars Nothingness that he owned also emitted a faint halo of light, making his silhouette appear extremely clear in the dark, even with barely any light.
Archbishop Martin and the others knew nothing about the debris of the stars, Nothingness, which Lin Li was holding. Hence, they were not too surprised when they saw the scene. However, Garl was suddenly astonished to see it. Due to the existence of the body of the host, no one saw how horrified he was.
However, Garl’s soul fluctuation could not be covered at all. He had just felt some horror, and even before he had fully experienced it himself, Lin Li had already entered the nothingness and communicated with him via soul contact.
“Garl, what are you hiding from me?”
Lin Li’s question caused Garl to immediately break out in a cold sweat. As a slave, hiding something from his master would be a serious matter which would inevitably cause him to be punished no matter what. Garl had already resigned himself to fate, and accepted the fact that he would have to spend the rest of his life as a slave. He naturally did not want to be punished for something unnecessary.
Hence, Garl was shocked to hear Lin Li’s question. Without hiding anything, he said, “My noble and wise master, it’s my fault for not telling you everything I know immediately. Actually, I only suddenly thought of this matter after I saw you taking out that magical weapon and sensing the magical waves on it.”
Although it was the first time that Garl had been anyone’s servant, he was obviously good at being one. The most important thing about being a servant was that regardless of whether one’s master had wrongly accused them or not, the first thing to do was to admit that everything was his or her fault, and that their master would never be wrong at all. The explanation would come after the apology and admittance to their mistakes.
“Oh, you know this weapon?” In fact, when Lin Li asked that question, he had already thought about the fact that the problem might lie with the debris of the stars, Nothingness, because Garl’s soul began fluctuating when its power was activated.
However, in all the years that Lin Li had been in Anril, he had never heard of any legends about the seven pieces of the debris of the stars. In other words, almost no one knew about their existence. The power contained in each piece of the debris of the stars was enough to allow it to be considered an artifact by the people of Anril. However, it was not surprising that the slightest appearance of any of them would cause a huge bloodbath in Anril. How could there not be any legends about them?
Hence, in Lin Li’s opinion, the only person in this world who knew about the seven pieces of the debris of the stars was probably the Immortal King who had been missing for an unknown number of years. Even Osric, the Immortal King’s proud disciple, probably did not know about the true origin of the debris of the stars, Nothingness, although he once possessed it.
However, Garl, a demon who had lived in the Well of the Sun for thousands of years, actually seemed surprised when he saw the debris of the stars, Nothingness. What did that mean? The power exerted by Nothingness was an existence that seemed real yet illusory. Lin Li was completely certain that Garl was definitely not surprised because he had sensed how powerful Nothingness was.
Hence, Lin Li suspected that Garl knew about the debris of the stars, and had probably seen them too. Lin Li couldn’t help but be curious about how Garl knew about them when he had lived in the Well of the Sun for thousands of years.
Hearing Lin Li’s next question, Garl knew that he had done the right thing, and continued, “Respected Master, I don’t know the origin of that magical weapon you’re holding, but I feel that its power seems to be somewhat similar to an item here. There are six other magical weapons here that contain extremely terrifying power.”
Hearing this, Lin Li couldn’t help but feel a little tempted. Other than Nothingness, there were apparently six more magical weapons that also contained terrifying power. Could Garl be referring to the seven pieces of the debris of the stars? However, he now owned all seven of them, so where did the ones in this world come from? Could there be seven more?
“Do you know where those seven magical weapons you mentioned are?” Lin Li became more and more curious. Although he already owned seven pieces of the debris of the stars, and seven more of comparable power would not be of much use to him, he was not willing to let such powerful magical weapons fall into the hands of others, since he knew how powerful they were.
“My respectable master, as far as I know, those seven magical weapons are most likely in the hands of the owner of this world, and it seems that their power is the very reason that this world is so solid.” Despite having lived there for thousands of years, Garl did not have an affirmative answer. After all, in the Well of the Sun, the Lord Devourer’s status was not actually high. He could only be considered an existence that was like a watchdog.
The owner of this world? Lin Li remembered that when he explored the Well of the Sun in the Endless World, he did not seem to have encountered a powerful existence that could truly be called that, even though he had killed many powerful Abyssal Demons. After all, that Well of the Sun was in the world of an online game; hence, the Abyssal Demons were all ranked up according to their level of strength. Although the Abyssal Demon on the last floor was considered a big boss-level creature, it was not qualified to be the owner of the Well of the Sun.
Previously, Lin Li had been able to basically determine that this Well of the Sun was exactly the same as that of the Endless World based on various details. Besides, it was so exaggerated that there were even traces of the magic traps that he had modified. However, now that another owner of the Well of the Sun had suddenly appeared, Lin Li was confused again.
Of course, based on common sense, this was actually quite normal. How could the Well of the Sun of two worlds really be identical? Lin Li had merely jumped to conclusions at first. Hence, he couldn’t accept the difference. If he had not found so many similarities as soon as he entered, he wouldn’t have thought that there was anything special about the existence of the owner of the Well of the Sun.
However, that also reminded Lin Li not to be too trusting of his own experience. After all, they were two completely different worlds. If the previous experience was useful, there was nothing he could complain about even if he hadn’t gotten an advantage. If he were to rely solely on his past experience, he might really end up trapping himself there.
“In this case, what do you know about the owner of this place?” No matter where the owner of the Well of the Sun came from, Lin Li was certain that if he and the expedition wanted to get out of this place, the owner of the Well of the Sun would definitely be the key. The owner of the Well of the Sun seemed to be able to master seven magical weapons that were similar to his debris of the stars. Hence, Lin Li definitely had to pay attention to him.
However, to Lin Li’s disappointment, Garl did not know much about the owner of the Well of the Sun. Most of the information he had was obtained from other Abyssal Demons, and he had never seen the true face of the owner of the Well of the Sun with his own eyes, let alone know the details about his combat strength.